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Spokes | More Room to Ride in East Harlem

Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesREADY TO RIDE Luis Cajigas is hard to miss on his three-wheeled Schwinn.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesPeter Sedano at the Heavy Metal Bike Shop.

Edward George rode his Titan folding bike, with its twin mirrors pointing up like antennae, from his apartment on 110th Street and Madison Avenue to the Gabaron Barber Shop on Second Avenue and 119th Street. But, as he often does, Mr. George, 82, took to the sidewalk for the trip because he feels unsafe in the fast-moving traffic.

Bike lanes make him feel more secure, “but there’s just a few,” he said, adding, “I’ve gotten a couple of tickets.”

Mr. George’s dilemma is characteristic of the transitional state of riding in East Harlem, where a network of lanes remains mostly in the “proposed” stage on the city’s official cycling map. Ridership in the neighborhood has grown, but local cyclists are still spotted sporadically at best.

In this way, East Harlem, which lies east of Central Park and west of the East River Greenway, is like Jackson Heights, Queens; the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx; and other areas on the margins of the city’s cycling boom. A recent study (pdf) by Rutgers University, based on census data, found that East Harlem residents ride to work at a rate that is slightly higher than the city median of about 1 percent, but below the rates for Lower Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn, where they hover around 2 percent.

That may soon change. The city’s Transportation Department is planning to install bike lanes this year that are physically separated from traffic along First and Second Avenues from Houston Street to 125th Street. The lanes in East Harlem, north of 96th Street, would nearly double the length of the neighborhood’s bike lanes, provide major arteries to downtown and improve two treacherous cycling routes.

“First and Second are horrendous,” said Marina Ortiz (pdf), 51, a former member of the local community board and a recreational cyclist. She said she has encouraged friends and co-workers to ride, “but they’re afraid.”

Jose Martin Garcia Orduna, a community board member and a bike commuter, said cycling dangers were not limited to the easternmost avenues, as traffic spills over from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and Harlem River Bridges. “During the week,” he said, “it’s not a bike-friendly neighborhood.”

Still, East Harlem is small and easily traveled on two wheels, a fact familiar to its diverse ridership. Peter Sedano, the manager of the Heavy Metal Bike Shop on 110th Street, gave the local breakdown: “The Mexicans, they like the low riders; the Puerto Ricans, they like the old Schwinns; and the white people, they like the racing bikes,” said Mr. Sedano, 30, who was born in Colombia. (He could not think of a bike associated with Colombians.)

One well-known local bicycle, however, defies categorization. Luis Cajigas has put a lot of himself into his year-old, three-wheeled Schwinn Town and Country, with its bullhorn, boombox, a sun shield festooned with flapping Puerto Rican and American flags and a framed 2008 photograph of Mr. Cajigas with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at an event at Gracie Mansion.

But what Mr. Cajigas, 80, is really known for are his roosters. He has a chicken coop’s worth that cover his bike. Most are manufactured, but one is a real bird, stuffed, that Mr. Cajigas said he was told was killed in a cockfight in Puerto Rico. He also owns about 30 hats, with at least one toy rooster perched on each.

In 1998, Mr. Cajigas received his first rooster as a gift from a friend who worked for a company that manufactured them. He had just retired as the manager of a local Carvel store and had plenty of time on his hands. “So, I went a bit rooster crazy,” he said in Spanish.

On a recent Friday, Mr. Cajigas, sporting a white cowboy hat, described the origin of each rooster on his bike. As he moved, the toy bird on his hat clucked.

Mr. Cajigas says he never feels unsafe in traffic on his distinctive bicycle. Perhaps that is because of the boombox, which is often playing as he rides, or maybe it is the bullhorn, which he uses to announce himself and, occasionally, to implore local children to obey their parents.

It is characters like Mr. Cajigas who led Richard Sanford, a retired Spanish teacher who lives in Brooklyn, to conduct what may be the city’s only language-immersion bicycle tour.

Mr. Sanford offers the six-hour excursions to aspiring Spanish speakers a few times a year.

I have seen bike lanes used in mid-town Manhattan; but I’ve been more bike riders not using bike lanes on streets that have them.

I’ve never seen bike riders use some of the bike lanes in other areas.

I think that it is time for the City Council to look into the Transportation Commissioner’s use of money for these bike lanes and other attempts to make transportation more difficult for the general public. And I think that it might also be appropriate for one of mor grand juries to inquire into the operation of the Transportation Department.

>> The city’s Transportation Department is planning to install bike lanes this year that are physically separated from traffic along First and Second Avenues from Houston Street to 125th Street.<<
And what excuse will cyclists habitually blowing through red lights use now?

2nd Avenue is the south bound truck route on the east side. Losing a lane of traffic for a separated bike lane is going to bring traffic to a near stop on that Avenue. As it is now it barely moves. So I ask who is going to want to ride down a street with diesel trucks that are barely moving and therefore belching heavy particulate exhaust. Also for anybody who lives on this Ave will be exposed more than ever to these toxins. All this money spent and inconvenience for 1% of the population that maybe we can raise it to 2%. There has to be a better solution.

You can’t go down the east river route because of the UN how about solving that, they can give something back to the city.

Wow. So many comments but very few are informed about the project. The new bike lane will be protected by a lane of parked cars, as is done on Broadway, 8th Ave, and 9th Ave in Manhattan. It will be very very difficult to double park there.

As for traffic concerns, the city has done an exhaustive analysis of traffic there, and the traffic will still move. The same doomsayers said that the 9th Ave bike lane and the Broadway closure would bring traffic to a stop. Yet none of those predictions have come to pass. Also, the city is specifically not putting in bike lanes where traffic won’t allow it (2nd Ave in midtown).

The fact is, this is a welcome improvement in mobility in the neighborhood. The community wants it and it is happening.

Well, I have two perspectives. The lanes on 9th were great when I drove a delivery truck on the side because they had metered Commercial parking. However from a fireman’s perspective they’re problematic. They force the trucks to be another 15 feet away from buildings on the bike lane side. This means we can’t reach as high with the ladders. They make turns very difficult onto the side streets, and positioning ladders on corner buildings gets real tough too. But if you’re not on one of those floors we now can’t reach, hey, these lanes are great!

I doubt #10 is a real fireman in Chelsea. If he were, he’d know that the fire trucks can — and DO — drive right into the bike lanes on 8th and 9th Aves when necessary. I work on Chelsea and have seen it on several occasions.

I’ve been riding up 1st Ave to work every morning for 15+ years now, and I am NOT a fan of the separated bike lanes a la 9th Ave. They’re needlessly complicated, there’s no reason to put physical barriers between road users to protect them from one another.

A painted lane (and a little enforcement) is plenty good enough. And a lot cheaper.

Agreed that these separated bike lanes are unnecessary. There’s no reason bikes can’t operate in the same road space as other vehicles. I avoid bike lanes when I ride. They’re mostly used fo double parking anyway, and I prefer to be away from opening car doors, oblivious pedestrians, and other curbside hazards. The best place to ride is out in the middle of the avenue, between lanes of moving traffic.

Jacob the proposed 2nd Ave lane goes from Houston St to 125th St. which obviously includes the outlet of the 59th St Bridge and Midtown Tunnel. And there is a lot more traffic on 2nd Ave than there was on 8th or 9th Ave so I don’t feel it is comparable. I do support the 8th and 9th Ave lanes as a success. But neither of those avenues carry the amount of heavyweight traffic as 2nd Ave.

You say the city did exhaustive study of the traffic, I say you trust anything coming from this administration’s mouth on this subject. They have an agenda and facts have no place in their view.

I live on 105th street @2nd Ave and believe me, having a bike lane on 2nd ave would be great. I just wonder how that’s going to work while the subway contruction is going on south of 100th street. Either way, anything is better than nothing. As for the double parked cars, I hope they move the lane to the curb and find a way to keep peds out of it. Again, better to have peds in the lane than a double parked car. Having more bike lanes, safer lanes, will encourage more people to ride to work, especially from my neighborhood. Thanks to the mayor for recognizing this is a city for people who don’t use automobiles too. Our quality of life will increase with wider sidewalks, few car lanes, etc etc. I could care less if traffic gets worse. Perhaps that will encourage people to use pubic transit/ a bicycle.

Though a few riders prefer to mix it up with traffic, most prefer to be separated from it. And lanes protected by parked cars are much more difficult to block by double parking. If we want more people to ride (which makes it safer for everyone), and not just the fearless, we need more of these protected lanes. They are relatively inexpensive and there is good federal funding for them.

Count me in as a fan of the separated bike lane. The best solution would be to make them at a different grade level than the roadway and the sidewalk, but hey I’m not going to complain. As for oblivious pedestrians, sure they’re out there, but frankly I’d prefer to give them a warning (first with the bell, then the whistle, and then a shout) than hope that an oblivious driver will notice my presence.
And while I agree that sometimes it seems safer to be out in the middle of traffic (@13), I worry about how little margin for error there is for a bike rider out there. If anything goes wrong, you’ve got absolutely nowhere to go. At least with a separated lane (as implemented on 9th Ave), turning cars are brought to a stop before being allowed to turn on an arrow, so collision speeds will be low. Also, even if a bicyclist were to be doored in a separated bike lane, the fall won’t immediately put them in danger of being run over by a vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane.

I’d like to second bike commuter’s comment. I was coming home on Broadway recently and, when I moved into the middle of the left lane northbound to make a left turn on 115th st, a taxi driver zoomed up behind me and passed within 1 foot of me in order to pass me and get to…the next red light. It is this kind of driving behavior that can lead to a seriously injured or dead cyclist.

Incidentally, the DOT actually recommends, and the law protects the right, to take up as much space in a lane as is needed in order to feel safe (i.e., to avoid getting doored or being passed while preparing to turn.) In this case, I thought the middle of the lane was enough, but the driver managed to squeeze by me anyway.

I hope that, someday, we will have a transportation infrastructure in place that separates all modes of transportation in a way that makes it safe for all of us to get around using whatever mode of transportation we choose. Of course, what is ‘safe’ is relative, but I hope we’re getting the idea that a guy like me biking home with his 3-year-old is better off riding in a protected bike lane than in the middle of three lanes of cars moving between 30 and 50 miles an hour.

Much of 2nd Avenue in the upper part of Manhattan is bad as it right now, epsecially with the construction of the SAS taking out some lanes. Just follow the rules, and you won’t have to need special lanes. Many of the streets throughout Manahttan are not that wide and bike lanes made a number of them go from bad to worse. Even with the lanes, many cyclists tend to use them as a decorations as a recent report from Hunter College has found. Another thing is why does there need to be more bike lanes when the number of cyclists has been found to be declining? It’s just another wast of money. How about spending to keep buildings and jobs in the public sector open, which is where it really does belong rather than being used for pet projects like this?

“the number of cyclists has been found to be declining”? Completely and utterly false. It’s increasing, dramatically.

The problem with “just follow the rules” is that drivers don’t. They drive aggressively, and there’s no place to ride a bike safely — especially for kids. There’s no alternative in the real world to having safe bike lanes. The city’s plans are great news.

Mike, as a driver, I follow the rules probably far more times than you do with your bicycle. Keep in mind that it was Charles Komanoff himself that admitted that the number for cyclists in NYC that were down as well it being found that the numbers were fudged. Don’t use the Weekly Carnage from Streetsblog, because that is completely biased especially since they only mention from what they want to, which is motor vehicles just to put us down and saying that a few speaks for all. By their logic, I can say the same for a few cyclists that never follow the laws and hurt others speaks for all as well, but I am against profiling. It’s really sad that Commuter Outrage shut down, because both Lewis Derkins and Judd Wilely had very good reasons why the bike lanes are both a waste of money and space as well why cyclists should be registered and follow the traffic laws as a way to earn respect rather than demand for it. One other thing is that I happen to look at this long term rather than short term.

Apparently you didn’t actually read that Komanoff post. He revised his estimate downward, sure. But it was still up from the previous year’s estimate. In no world does that mean that “the number of cyclists has been found to be declining”.

Commuter Outrage was an automotive and sprawl advocacy site, plain and simple. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Reason Foundation was behind it. It shut down because almost nobody cared to listen to what they had to say, which was basically automobile good, everything else bad.

Joe, I have been known to comment on Commuter Outrage when they were active, and they were nothing like that at all. If you looked at the FAQ section, they mentioned how they were never part of any automobile lobby group yet Streetsblog and TA continued to believe that myth. Also, there is no evidence that Lewis Derkins is the alter ego of Pat Truxes was never found to be true either, but rather than some guess or conspiracy theory aimed at him. As for the name, it wasn’t called Commuter Outrage because both Lewis and Judd Wilely were known to be angry about their commutes, it was called that because they were outraged on the way transit and infrastructure in the way it is right now and not that efficient. Ironically, even though they were from the DC area, they knew more about NYC transit even more than all those on Streetsblog and TA combined. BTW, Streetsblog actually removed that entry even though TA kept theirs since they don’t allow for comments. The only reason why those assumption were made is because they didn’t share the same ideology as they did, so they are assumed to by of the car lobby when that’s not always true. Here is the link that debunks all of that.

I actually came across that link you gave when I was doing some research into Commuter Outrage. I think the truth is somewhere between there and what was said on Streetsblog. I don’t believe everything I read on the Internet, regardless of whether or not the ideology agrees with my own.

As for Lewis Derkins ( Pat Truxes? ) his writings are obviously highly educated, to the point where he can introduce subtle omissions and/or distortions not easily caught by most readers. In short, he sounds like someone who has some authority on the subject, and this in fact is exactly my point of contention. The less educated, less knowledgeable reader simply won’t see through his convenient omissions. And by the way, there is indeed a Pat Truxes in my alumni directly ( yes, I graduated from the same school as he did, only in 1985 ). Strangely enough, the entry for him in the 2009 edition has no info on his major, current address, current employer, and so forth. Nearly everyone else, including me, has such info listed. Whether Lewis Derkins is a pen name for this same person is open to debate, but to me the above mentioned omissions look suspiciously as if this individual doesn’t want to be found for whatever reason.

And incidentally, I took a course in transportation engineering ( my major was electrical engineering ), and studied the subject extensively on my own. I know a lie or exaggeration or omission when I see one, and I see quite a few in the writings of Lewis Derkins.

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